Austin: This One Goes to 11

Seems like just yesterday when Austin was the 13th largest city in the US. It had just surpassed San Francisco, if I remember correctly, which caused a flurry of interesting articles comparing the two.

With the fifth-largest population increase among all U.S. cities for the year ending July 1, 2012, Austin leapfrogged past Indianapolis and Jacksonville, Fla., to become the nation’s 11th-most populous city, according to population estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau. Between 2011 and 2012, Austin’s population increased by 25,395, or an average of about 70 people a day. The Census Bureau estimated Austin’s 2012 population at 842,592.

The latest population figures extend a remarkable rise for Austin, which only last year passed San Francisco to become the nation’s 13th-largest city.

Half of the top-ten cities for population growth were in Texas, another incredible number. Suburbs around Austin saw some of the fastest growth in the country. San Marcos, for example: “San Marcos had the highest rate of growth among all U.S. cities and towns with at least 50,000 people. Its population rose 4.9 percent between 2011 and 2012, to 50,001, according to the estimates.”

“It is testimony to Austin’s one-two punch of job creation and a very high quality of life,” Robinson said, adding that the data verify what people who live here experience daily.

“The population growth is so rapid,” he said, “that every man and woman on the street can literally sense it in terms of increasing traffic congestion, more people out at restaurants. You can feel it.”

He’s actually right about that. You can literally feel the population growth in Austin right now. Which puts even more value on a well-located home, apartment, or condo. Time to up the game for light rail, Austin!

*Apologies for the Spinal Tap reference in the title… couldn’t resist.